Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Prime Time PRLet me say right off the bat, I don't watch TV regularly. Part of this is by choice, and part due to not actually having a TV (okay, technically I do have one, but we can digress on that subject some other time). Consequently I tend not to keep up on the current programs, but this one really caught my attention - CBS' Undercover Boss. I'll let the show's own web site describe it:

Each week a different executive will leave the comfort of their corner office for an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their company. While working alongside their employees, they will see the effects their decisions have on others, where the problems lie within their organization and get an up-close look at both the good and the bad while discovering the unsung heroes who make their company run.

Two things came to mind for me when I saw the commercial for this:1) At a time when corporate America's reputation and standing among the citizenry is the lowest it's been in generations, and people are fuming over CEO bonuses and bailouts, this is the kind of PR shot in the arm these bosses desperately need. And it comes a hell of a lot cheaper than actually making the jobs better or paying the employees more.2)I'd seen this years before on an episode of Diff'rent Strokes. (If you're interested, you can watch the episode here.

McLeroy is quoted as saying in a statement that the current "standards are rife with leftist political periods and events: the populists, the progressives, the New Deal and the Great Society. Including material about the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s provides some political balance to the document."

Now, there are all kinds of political and social statements one could make about all this (and many have), but personally, I think it just means that someone in Texas is a fan of Dinosaur Comics.

The Illuminati Goes GagaSo, perhaps you've heard pop sensation Lady Gaga's new single "Telephone" and thought it was simply a catchy, if over-produced guaranteed club hit. Or maybe you saw the somewhat disturbing nine and half minute opus video for it:

(Because when I hear a song with the chorus "Call when you want but there's no one home/ and you're not gonna reach my telephone," I naturally think of a Tarantino homage ending in mass murder.)But really, we're all just rubes, because this is actually in fact a coded expose of the mind control techniques of the Illuminati!(Maybe I just haven't gotten to that part of the Illuminatus! Trilogy yet [though I do think Robert Anton Wilson would be sufficiently amused].)